Privacy Protection and Technology Diffusion: The Case of Electronic Medical Records

34 Pages Posted: 30 Jan 2007 Last revised: 29 Oct 2014

See all articles by Amalia R. Miller

Amalia R. Miller

University of Virginia - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Catherine E. Tucker

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Management Science (MS)

Date Written: February 2009

Abstract

This paper quantifies the effect of state privacy regulation on the diffusion of Electronic Medical Records (EMR). EMR allow medical providers to store and exchange patient information using computers rather than paper records. Hospitals may be more likely to adopt EMR if they can reassure patients that their confidentiality is legally protected. Alternatively, privacy protection may inhibit adoption if hospitals cannot benefit from easily exchanging patient information. We find that state privacy regulation restricting hospital release of health information reduces aggregate EMR adoption by hospitals by more than 24%. We present evidence that suggests that this is due to the suppression of network externalities.

Keywords: Technology Diffusion, Privacy Protection, Health-care IT, Network Externalities, Hospitals

JEL Classification: I1, K2, L5, O3

Suggested Citation

Miller, Amalia R. and Tucker, Catherine E., Privacy Protection and Technology Diffusion: The Case of Electronic Medical Records (February 2009). NET Institute Working Paper No. 07-16, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=960233 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.960233

Amalia R. Miller

University of Virginia - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 400182
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4182
United States

HOME PAGE: http://people.virginia.edu/~am5by/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Catherine E. Tucker (Contact Author)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Management Science (MS) ( email )

100 Main St
E62-536
Cambridge, MA 02142
United States

HOME PAGE: http://cetucker.scripts.mit.edu

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